WORLD SERIES: Things go from bad to worse as Tigers find themselves down, 0-3 to Giants, and nearly history

San Francisco Giants' Sergio Romo reacts after striking out Detroit Tigers' Omar Infante to end Game 3 of baseball's World Series Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012, in Detroit. The Giants defeated the Tigers 2-0. The Giants lead the series 3-0. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera watches from the dugout during the ninth inning of Game 3 of baseball's World Series against the San Francisco Giants Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012, in Detroit. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

DETROIT -- It's gone from storybook to history book.

After the Detroit Tigers failed to score a run for the second straight game, shut out 2-0 by the San Francisco Giants in Saturday's pivotal Game 3 of the World Series, any thoughts of a comeback have gone from the realm of fantasy to the Tigers nearly being history.

"We're definitely not giddy about it," Prince Fielder said, admitting he was surprised at the hole the Tigers find themselves in. "Definitely. I don't go home and imagine being down 0-3 in the World Series but it is what it is. Gotta play hard now. Gotta be an adult about it."

They know what's facing them. Nothing needs be said. No team meeting, no rah-rah speech.

"Everybody knows that. That talk stuff is for Hoosiers and the movies. That's not real life. You just have to go out there and play hard. There's nothing really to say," Fielder said. "Everybody is playing hard, everybody is prepared. We just don't get to write the script and it's not working out right now."

And now the deficit, which was imposing enough after two games, appears insurmountable.

Like any lead the Giants have taken.

The hole the Detroit Tigers fell in when Pablo Sandoval started bombing home runs in Game 1 of the World Series has merely gotten steeper with each successive scoreless inning.

And the Tigers haven't scored in what seems like a decade -- nothing since Jhonny Peralta's ninth-inning homer in Game 1, a span of 18 scoreless innings.

After never trailing the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, the Tigers came into Game 3 of the World Series having never led in either of the first two games. They didn't lead at all Saturday, obviously.

They were shut out twice in the regular season -- the first coming after not being shut out for nearly a full calendar year -- but have now been shut out in back-to-back games.

"Not being able to get enough guys on base, not being able to do anything to do anything when we get guys on base, obviously can definitely get frustrating," Alex Avila said. "It is frustrating, but you can't let it affect the next day."

Meanwhile, the Giants haven't trailed in seven games.

They'd outscored their opponents, 32-4, in their last six.

And in their 15 playoff games, the team that had scored first won 13 times -- the Giants are 9-1 when scoring first, like they did Saturday.

Why was that so huge? The last time the Tigers rallied from a multiple-run deficit to win a World Series game was 1968.

Now, the Tigers have to try to become the first team to ever rally from a 3-0 deficit in the World Series. Only three of the 23 teams to fall behind 3-0 have even extended it to five games before losing.

"We're well aware of what needs to happen. It's not like nobody knows," said Phil Coke, who was asked what, in his eyes, the Tigers have that leads them to believe it's even possible. "Can you read them? Can you read my eyes? Can you tell? Can you see them? There's no quit in any of us. Nobody's going to stop fighting. That, right there, is a huge key. We have that. We know that. We've had our backs against the wall. We haven't done anything easy all year. So we might as well do it the hard way."

This is the extraordinarily hard way.

No room for error, anymore.

"Yeah, we can do it. The odds probably aren't in our favor, but we're going to come out and give it our best shot. Just like we've done all year," Andy Dirks said. "We've had rough times throughout the season. And I think those might come into play for us now."

And you can't blame the pitching, either.

Anibal Sanchez may have gotten a little ahead of himself in the second inning, overthrowing and trying to do too much -- allowing the Giants to scratch across two runs. He'd end up going seven strong innings, striking out eight.

And he certainly didn't cost them the game.

"We got tremendous pitching effort, but we've been shut out for 18 innings, so it's pretty hard to win a game," Leyland said. "I think if you look at this, other than the first game-- we're down 0-3 so it looks pretty bad. You can't argue that point. But if you look at it, we've done a pretty good job of pitching, too, other than the first game when Justin (Verlander) was a little bit frisky, but since that point I think we've shut them down pretty good, too.

"We just have not been able to get on the board, run-wise."

The Tigers got two on in the first inning, but Vogelsong got out of it by getting Prince Fielder to ground into a double play to end it.

They'd get two more on two innings later, when Omar Infante -- who came into the game hitting 7-for-11 vs. Vogelsong -- and Austin Jackson both singled, but the threat would end the same way. Quintin Berry, who'd grounded into just four double plays all regular season, hit into one just one pitch into his at-bat, ending the rally with Miguel Cabrera left standing helplessly in the on-deck circle.

After collecting the most ground-ball double plays of any MLB team in the regular season (156), they're now in line for the postseason title, as well, passing the Cardinals for the most (11) of any playoff team.

"I think they made some terrific pitches at the right time, and made some plays when they needed them, were able to get those double plays turned ... whenever they turned them. Seemed like they turned one every inning," Phil Coke said.

"But if we're able to keep something going, it'd be a different game."

Double plays wouldn't be the culprit in the fifth, when Vogelsong gave up a pair of hits and a walk to load the bases, but got Berry to strike out and Cabrera to pop out to end the threat.

It dropped the Tigers to 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position in the game, and 1-for-11 for the series.

No American League team had been shut out in back-to-back games since the 1919 World Series that went down in infamy for the Black Sox scandal. No World Series team had been shut out with five hits or fewer in consecutive games since the 1921 Giants.

"That's one of those things where, them balls aren't going in the hole, they just aren't falling at all right now. We've had our chances. We get runners on base, and have good innings rolling, and just can't quite get the hit, and get something to fall in a hole. That's how you score runs. It's been tough going for us, pretty much the whole postseason, scoring runs. We haven't been putting up 10, 12. But it's tough," Andy Dirks said.

"A team that struggles offensively, usually just ain't finding holes. That's kind of the way it's been. We can't make excuses. It's just baseball."

Vogelsong would last into the sixth inning, pulled after giving up a two-out walk to Andy Dirks. Starter-turned-reliever Tim Lincecum would get Jhonny Peralta to fly out to end the threat.

Lincecum would allow just two baserunners -- on a walk and an error -- in 2 1/3 innings of relief, then Sergio Romo pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

Now, the Tigers -- who have lost six straight World Series games, dating back to 2006 -- have to win four straight.

"Yeah, we can do it. The odds probably aren't in our favor, but we're going to come out and give it our best shot. Just like we've done all year. We've had rough times throughout the season. And I think those might come into play for us now," Dirks said.

"They've played pretty good baseball, and we just can't quite get it rolling right now. Tomorrow's a new day. We'll come out tomorrow, and try to get some momentum going our way."

Email Matthew B. Mowery at matt.mowery@oakpress.com and follow him on Twitter @matthewbmowery. Text keyword "Tigers" to 22700 to get updates sent to your phone. Msg & data rates may apply. Text HELP for help. Text STOP to cancel.